Army Corps Honors Local Man for Yough Rescue

Glassport resident’s quick thinking saved fisherman from drowning

By Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim
The Tube City Almanac
November 13, 2024
Posted in: State & Region

Gayla and Guy Norelli of Glassport, Vince Klinkner of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Jim Harrold of Seven Springs at an award ceremony celebrating Harrold’s rescue. (Submitted photo courtesy Guy Norelli)

“I just assumed I was going to drown.”

Jim Harrold of Seven Springs was fishing in the Youghiogheny River in Confluence, Somerset County, when the current pulled him under.

“As I was going down towards the bottom of the pool, which was about 20 feet, there was a light,” Harrold said recently. That's just about where Glassport resident Guy Norelli pulled Harrold out of the Youghiogheny River Lake outflow on Sept. 2, 2022.

Last month, Guy Norelli and his wife Gayla, who spotted the drowning man, were honored with a Public Service Commendation Medal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Pedro Delgado of Greensburg and Guy Norelli of Glassport pull Jim Harrold to safety, Sept. 2, 2022. (Submitted photo courtesy Guy Norelli)

It was a Friday, and water was being released from the Yough Lake reservoir in Ohiopyle for the weekend rafters, which contributed greatly to the higher water level.

“We decided to go fishing in Confluence at the outflow before all the campers showed up.” said Guy Norelli, who runs a graphics business in his hometown of Glassport, “We left in the morning. We got there pretty early, about 9 p.m. The water was really choppy.”

Later in the day, Jim Harrold arrived for his fishing session. Norelli described him as being dressed as though he jumped right out of Field & Stream magazine.

“He was very impressive looking,” Gayla Norelli said. “He looked like he had been a real fisherman for a very long time.”

Guy Norelli was having little success fishing, and to pass the time, a bored Gayla began reading the instructions on the life ring cabinet. Guy continued his fishing efforts for about five more minutes when all of a sudden, Gayla said, “Guy, he’s down. Go get him.”

According to a story this summer in the Tribune-Review, 15 people have died and six others were injured in the Youghiogheny River while kayaking or rafting between 1982 and 2022. Others have died while swimming or falling into the river while fishing.

Earlier this year, a body was pulled out of the river in Ohiopyle State Park.

Vince Klinkner of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, recommends that visitors to the Youghiogheny River Lake area invest in and wear a personal floatation device, or PFD, while in or near the water.

“It’s not a requirement in the river, but I believe that would be the most practical and most useful tool that they could use,” Klinker said. “The use of a PFD would have greatly benefited any one of the [accidents] that I’m aware of.”

Guy Norelli had to cross the rocks on the shore to get to Jim Harrold, who was being dragged out by the current. Guy recalls thinking that one misstep would mean the end of the drowning man’s life, and the wet rocks did not provide secure footing.

While Guy was pulling the now-unconscious Jim Harrold out of the cold, violent water, Gayla was getting life rings and yelling to attract attention. It was around that point that Pedro Delgado of Greensburg noticed her and went to assist Guy.

The two men did chest compressions on Jim until he woke up. Guy reports having to pry Jim’s fishing rod out of his hand, calling it a, “death grip.”

When the paramedics arrived, they took Jim Harrold to a hospital in a helicopter. “The thing that really shocked me,” Harrold said, “The bed I was laying in, it had a scale on it. The nurse said to me, ‘Do you know how much you weigh?’”

“‘I said, ‘I normally weigh about 180 pounds.’ She said, ‘You’re weighing a little over 210 pounds.’ That’s how much water I ingested.”

Over the next week, Harrold was able to pass the unnecessary water out of his body, but he still required a very extensive antibiotics course due to all the pathogens in the water he took in.

Since that day, the Norellis and the Harrolds have become good friends, visiting each other frequently. Guy Norelli, a member of the Glassport lodge of the Sons & Daughters of Italy, had the Harrolds over for a spaghetti dinner.

Guy Norelli credits divine providence with Gayla’s decision — made out of boredom — to read the instructions on the life ring cabinet. “God told her,” he said, “‘read this first.’”

Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim is a freelance writer from Pittsburgh and a recent Penn State University graduate. He won a Golden Quill award for his work at the Penn State Greater Allegheny Gazette.

Originally published November 13, 2024.

In other news:
"Grocery Could Return …" ||